A week's worth of adventures!

I haven't updated in a little over a week because things have been so busy! Where do I even begin?

How about with some pictures of my favorite pooches in the whole world? Yeah, I'm a tad obsessed but if you had faces like that to come home to every day, you'd be o

bsessed, too.  I love my Miles and Fergi!  We got Fergi a t-shirt (she absolutely LOVES wearing clothes and refuses to have her pajamas taken off when we put them on) that says "high maintenance" and it fits her so perfectly.  She's a brat!

Anyway, time to move on...

Last weekend, my mom and I spent the day together finalizing the wedding invitations order.  I ended up being really happy with the end product and we got the proof this week! I can't wait to see how they look on paper with our names on it.  I can't believe it's getting so close already! Less than 6 months! 6 months from today, we'll be on our way to Mexico for our honeymoon! Pure bliss!

This past weekend, my friend Teresa and I drove together to celebrate our friend Tera's birthday.  We went to the Vig Uptown (a really contemporary, "cool kid" bar in Phoenix) and we had a fun time meeting all her friends and celebrating her birthday.  Teresa tried really hard to convince me to stop at a psychic on the way home so I finally gave in but it turned out, the psychic had closed her doors for the evening.  Saved by the CLOSED sign!

This is the lady who believes a psychic has all the answers :) I love her.

Saturday, Justin and I went over our budget (never fun or exciting) and did our grocery shopping.  I decided to start stealing some meal ideas from Pinterest (my favorite website EVER) and do freezer crockpot meals with fresh vegetables and meat.  All the reviews say they are absolutely delicious so here's to hoping my freezer bag meals turn out as delicious as they smelled. 

Saturday night, Justin and I went to Amy and HR's birthday party (their birthdays are a week apart) to help them celebrate as well.  We played corn hole and caught up with everyone while munching on yummy food!  HR made a Battleship drinking game called "BattleShots"... you can imagine what that looked like.  It was a fun night!  Here's a quick pic of Brittney laughing so hard she couldn't control herself anymore and me laughing at her hysterically! 

Today, Justin went golfing to continue HR's birthday festivities and I slept in as late as the dogs would allow me.  I haven't been feeling really amazing the past few days so I'm going to try and keep taking vitamins and eating healthy and hope whatever I have goes away soon!  Kherington is coming over tonight while Britt goes to the hockey game so please send me strength to get through the night with a temperamental three year old! 

Til next week :)  xoxoxox

Pinterest

Last week, we went to Meghan and Christopher's house for dinner and we came up with a plan.  Every week, one of us would host a Pinterest inspired dinner and invite the other one over.  Last week, we had crock pot chicken tacos at their house and tonight, we had a balsamic vinaigrette pork tenderloin with roasted red potatoes and fresh green beans! It was pretty yummy for my very first time ever making a pork tenderloin and I have to say, I'm proud of myself :) We spent the evening watching the hockey playoffs and eating, while I held their baby Chase and loved on him for a little while! It was a perfect, relaxing evening.

Chase's two month old picture (just a quick idea of how adorable he is)! 

Our pork tenderloin, cut in half, marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.

Searing the tenderloins on each side for 1.5 minutes before sticking in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Delicious roasted vegetables... I love red potatoes!

The finished product and it's pretty presentation! It was a definite success!

Overall, we had a fantastic weekend.  We worked on home projects including painting all the trim in the loft and bedroom and refinishing the doors in the master bedroom.  It feels so good to be productive and accomplished!

Easter weekend

 This year, I decided to make an Easter egg hunt for Justin... I know, I know, super cheesy! Buuuut, I filled each plastic egg with random dates (restaurant of his choice, movie of his choice, etc.) or things that he has wanted (a Sunday golf outing with his friends, uninterrupted video game time, etc.) I sent him on a hunt through the house and he happily collected all of the eggs.  I think he thought it was thoughtful on my part that I put it together for him, so he decided to return the favor.  I am patiently waiting for the eggs to be hidden for me to search for at the moment :) I can't wait to start using our little "date cards"!

 The night before Easter, our friends Aimee and Jon invited us out for a drink and to celebrate the LA Lakers loss against the Suns! Yeaaaaaah! Go Suns!  We spent the night playing pool and shuffleboard, and Aimee even got me to karaoke! Crazy, I know, but still pretty fun! It was nice to get out of my shell a little bit.

 Jon and Justin enjoying a drink (or 5)...

 Justin and I, celebrating on Easter Eve :)

 On Easter Sunday, we went to my mom's house and had dinner with the entire family!  Yummy smoked ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans and delicious desserts! Our friend Kara and her little baby Mia came to spend Easter with us as well since her family lives out of town in Oregon! All the ladies LOVED fussing over her sweet little girl, and it was extra practice for my niece since she'll be having her own here very shortly...

 Another picture of Justin and I on Easter Sunday!

The star of the whole weekend: Mia! She's such a sweet baby...so good, mild mannered, quiet and giggly! We loved getting to spend the day with her!

Hopefully everyone else had as good of a weekend as Justin and I did! Happy Easter!

xoxo

but I want to live with the baboons!

The night after Justin's birthday party, we woke up bright and early to hang with Kherington while her mama went on a fundraiser walk with some friends from work.  We decided it was a beautiful day and why stay cooped up inside if we didn't have to?  We headed to the Phoenix Zoo where apparently every other Phoenician had our exact same thoughts - it was PACKED! Not exactly the best day to take a three year old to the zoo but nonethless, it was still fun.  Between the renting of the stroller, the "I want out of the stroller!" "I want in the stroller!" "Pick me up!" "Put me down!" "Let me see the animals!" "I'm hungry!" "I need to go potty...RIGHT NOW!" and "I want to live with the baboons!"... it was a very long day.  I love this little girl to pieces but man, oh man, was I exhausted after this little adventure.  She completely wore her Uncle Justin and Aunt Nenna out! 

 

 Kherington looking at the zebras..

 Beautiful purple blooms near the monkeys!

Kherington's little hand, looking at the baboons! They were her favorite!

 She wanted to pick the nose of every single fake animal she saw... so she did.

 Double the picking, double the fun!

This is Kherington, riding the reindeer... she told me "it was a REINDEER, not an a sheep." (Apparently, it was some weird type of large horned sheep.) Hello, stupid me.. why didn't I get the memo?

the party continues...

Justin's birthday has apparently been a week long celebration! He has golfed twice, went out to a huge dinner with friends and now had his friends over to the house for a "real party."  I baked a banana cake (with real, homemade frosting!) he had asked me to make for his birthday (recipe courtesy of none other than Pinterest), made my yummy cilantro lime pulled chicken and had fun with friends who don't get together all that often! I'd say Justin had a really successful 29th birthday... he made it through to tell the story!

 Justin's banana cake with melted frosting! So good, but really messy.  His candles should say "29" but I'm pretty sure it was a Z instead of a 2....

 That was J. Maxwell pushing Justin's face into his cake after blowing out his candles! So kind.

 Caryn and Jesse playing with Kherington and tracing hands...

 Some of the boys taking pictures!

 Gotta love Dirty's face in this one.

...and, this is a just because picture... because I love that quote. Really cute!

Happy 29th Birthday AGAIN Justin! I hope this past year was everything you wanted and more! I love you!
xoxo,
Jenna